Mrs. Chinwe Ebele A Good Samaritan and a Transformational Coach, Mrs. Chinwe Ebele has rescued a young mother who lost contact with her family for about 11 years. Narrating the story to The Leader after a thanksgiving Mass hailed at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Ibiasoegbe in Oru-West L.G.A. The rescuer, Mrs. Chinwe Ebele noted that she found the lady (name withheld) in Lagos when she was in desperate need of assistance. According to Mrs. Ebele, she befriended her, ministered to her, coached and then took her to the Convent where she stayed till she was ready to come home. Mrs….

It is no longer news that young Africans who are escaping from their countries, to Europe and other continents drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. A few months ago 300 young Africans were reported to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. Three weeks later another two hundred also perished near the Island of Malta. Recently, bodies of seventy-one others were found in a lorry in Austria while some two hundred other were feared dead after two boats sank, off the coast of Libya. The Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. Ban KiMoon has called for a collective response to avert…

Pensioners trying to revive a colleague who fainted during one of the numerous verification exercises. One first reaction on reading some newspaper headlines out of Nigeria is one of incredulity. It simply can’t be true, one declares. Such was my reaction last week when I saw a report in the Guardian newspaper. The report, written by Charles Ogugbuaja, was titled “Imo Pensioners Owed Over 20 Months Arrears.” For a few minutes, I just stared at the headline, unable to come to terms with the sheer absurdity of it all. Was it even possible that a government, any government, would leave…

There is no doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari has the good will of all Nigerians. His stance on corruption and promise to bring about the desired change Nigerians have always prayed for has endeared him to the heart of many. But Nigerians are not a very patient people and nothing has tried their patience, in recent times, as much as President Muhammadu Buhari’s delay in appointing his ministers. Buhari’s predecessors did that in less than two months, giving Nigerians the opportunity to know who their leaders are and who and whom to go to for contracts and related “things”….

Four sisters of the Congregation of Daughters of the Charity of the Most Precious Blood (OCPB) have made their Final Profession into the religious Order. They are: Sr. Rufina Akuzuo Egbukichi, Sr. Christiana Nkiruka Ikewelugo, Sr. Elizabeth Mmaegbulem Ozubulu and Sr. Eucharia Nkechinyere Uchendu. Rev. Fr. Dr. Alphonsus Oha, the Owerri Archdiocesan Chancellor and Secretary, who represented His Grace, Most Rev. Anthony J.V. Obinna, presided at the Eucharistic celebration to mark the occasion, at the Maria Assumpta Cathedral Owerri, September 3, 2015. He was assisted by the Administrator of the Cathedral, Rev. Fr. Gerard Onyekwere. Delivering the homily, Fr….

It is common knowledge that the well known elite supporters of continuity of the status Quo, among them the ex. this and former-that who destroyed the Federal Republic now extol the need for change and dealing with corruption. The new Nigeria of 2015 should have no space for such chameleons who want to cover their past crimes. History is already exposing ancient political thieves, worshippers of money and wolves who have lost their teeth but not their nature. Within the obsolent status Quo are devotees of Satanic culture of ritualist and holdings who have served as leaders. Nigeria is…

The brain wave of oppressors. What a retrogressive and cancerous mindset institutionalized in Nigeria. Whether right or wrong the status quo has become the traditional business as usual way of doing things in Nigeria. The status quo does not favour change and innovation for the better. The promise made and kept posture of combatant trickster cultists that has bestrode the nation like a colossus. The status Quo is colonised by less than one percent of the Nigerian population who make things happen without regard for consequence. It is a rat race in which the stupendously rich, mighty and strong…

A weeping, Philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus, decided to withdraw from the world to live alone in the mountain regretting the stupidity of mankind. That was centuries ago. It is God’s perfect will to give wisdom to those who lack it; and ask for it. And anybody with the wisdom of God will always confound the world. It is not a surprise therefore that those who truly preach the gospel do so with wisdom, compassion and power. All over the world, religion teaches us confession while salvation teaches repentance. Only recently, the Pointer Newspaper based in Asaba in a story…

According to our forefathers, power in a way is like some good French wine, it is the toast of the high society, and its proud possessor can therefore play court to the mighty, to the affluent and even to the lettered. But it can also be intoxicating, one little extra social quality that grants it an ironic mandates to get cheeky and make a mess of he who enjoys it. Good wine drinkers have testimonies to give in this regard. Very often men get drunk with power, finding themselves like some poor reed, unable to resist the torrent of…

INSIGHT INTO THE SCIENCE TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (STAN) This association was established in 1957 with only sixteen founding members and it presently has over twenty thousand members across the globe. STAN is a non-political, non-religious and not-for-profit professional organization. In STAN there are fifteen subject panels; Agricultural Science, Basic Science, Basic Science and Technology, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Education, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Gender and STEME Physics, Science-Technology-Society, Teacher Education and Technology Education. These subject panels are the arteries and veins of STAN that popularize Science Education. Every year, National workshops are organized and rotated among the various…

For quite sometime now, particularly, from January to April this year, a lot of factors have contributed to plunge Imolites into untold suffering. Many people have continued to endure and mortify themselves with the hope that things will soon be alright immediately after the elections. But unfortunately since May, things worsened. Those in the payroll of Imo State government, who got their last pay since February, were plunged into the worst suffering which is almost equivalent to the one experienced during the Nigeria/Biafra Civil war. This is so because many families can hardly find money in their pockets to…

The current economic depression has indeed indicted all levels of Governments in Nigeria of over-dependency on Oil, and sustaining the ugly culture of a sharing economy rather than a production based one. Perhaps, against this backdrop the visionary Governor Rochas Okorocha OON premised his 2 Tenure policy on factory, factory, factory; industry, industry, industry; job, job, job; employment, employment, and employment as he understands that industrialization is truiy a panacea for economic development and prosperity. We had for too long, believed in the misconception and belief in what experts refer to “sophisticated civilization” which literally means obtaining a good education…

The delegates of Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (CYON), from all the 54 dioceses in Nigeria, arrived at Seat of Wisdom Major Seminary Ulakwo, the venue for NEC meeting hosted by Owerri Archdiocesan CYON, on 10th September, 2015. The meeting was flagged off with a holy mass at Seat of Wisdom Major Seminary Chapel, officiated by His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony J.V. Obinna, the Archbishop of Archdiocese of Owerri, who was effectively represented by Rev. Fr. Dr. Jude Ike, Chaplain of St. Thomas Aquinas, FUTO Chaplaincy. He was assisted by priests/chaplains of CYON from the dioceses in Nigeria,…

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Dn 3:31.29.30.43.42 All that you have done to us, O Lord, you have done with true judgment, for we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments. But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy. COLLECT O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven. Through our Lord FIRST READING A reading from the Book of Numbers Numbers…

The Imo State Government has dissolved the Youth Must Work Programme, in Ministries, Departments and Agencies including Local Government Councils with immediate effect. The programme is being reviewed with the compilation of a fresh list of Youth Must Work beneficiaries to accommodate only authentic and genuine applicants. The Release however, said the directive does not affect those teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools as they are to remain in their duty posts. Meanwhile, the Governor has directed that all allowances of Youth Must Work members be paid accordingly. A Release issued by Dr. Paschal C. Obi, Principal Secretary to…

… All General Hospitals, Health Centres too The Imo State Government has announced the concession of the management of 28 parastatals in the state. (Concession as an agreement, is a grant of rights, Land or Property by a government to a private company to have the exclusive right to operate, maintain and carry out investment in a public utility for a given number of years. Adapalm and Imo Transport Company (ITC) are operating under concession agreement). A release by the state Government said the concession was in line with government’s determination to reposition the parastatals towards achieving the original objectives…

Mr. Kevin Neigbo and his wife, Sandra are supposed to be happy having been blessed with a set of triplets. But the harsh economic realities on ground have taken a heavy toll on them, wiping away their joy as they are not able to take good care of their babies. During labour, the wife had surgery twice at Obioma Hospital Nnewi which drained whatever savings they had. The couple who hail from Nnewi, Anambra State are petty traders. They are therefore pleading with good spirited Nigerians and organizations to come to their aid. Before the triplets came (all girls) they…

Lolo Esther Uzoma, wife of Prof. Protus Uzoma, a university lecturer and newspaper columnist, who was abducted last Sunday in her World Bank Estate Owerri, has been set free. Gunmen had abducted Lolo Uzoma at about 10 pm last Sunday. Her husband, Prof. Uzoma who is also a columnist with several newspapers, told reporters that the armed men had stormed their residence on Sunday night, asking for his whereabouts and his wife had told them that he was not around. However, after ransacking the whole house, they took her away at gunpoint. His words: “Yesterday (Sunday) at about 10…

Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has plunged several parts of Imo State into darkness since three weeks now, with no flicker of electricity in the affected places. Several days of investigations carried out by Business Day correspondent in parts of the state showed that a circuit breaker line at a major distribution line at Owerri-Onitsha Expressway got destroyed. BusinessDay reliably gathered from an insider that Owerri Business District beckoned on EEDC headquarters in Enugu to approve and deploy materials for the circuit-breaker’s replacement, but Enugu asked Owerri to source for it and repair, whereas the latter said it didn’t…

Children swimming the mud to rescue a vehicle, stuck at Umuapu along Owerri/Port-Harcout Road The all-important Owerri-Port Harcourt Road, which in recent years, has remained a nightmare to commuters travelling from different parts of the country, through Owerri to Port-Harcourt, has finally collapsed and become impassable, owing to the havoc wrecked by erosion, especially at Umuapu Ohaji. The reconstruction of the Imo State part of the road, The Leader learnt, was awarded a few years ago to the Arab Construction Company which has fixed the road upto Umuagwo town without extending it to Umuapu which contains the worst failed portion….